Published: June 10, 2014
Time heals wounds
West girls bring home gold in 1,600 relay
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
LA CROSSE — West Bend West’s Erica Wanie has been one of the
cornerstones for a program that has gone from bottom to top in four years.
It was only fitting she carried the baton across the finish
line in the late Saturday hours to help the Spartans win the 1,600-meter relay
at the WIAA State Track and Field Championship at the University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Wanie, committed to Marquette, has competed in 14 events at
the state track meet in her high school career, medaling eight times, but never
gold.
“I never feel disappointed in our place because I know that
as long as everybody goes out and does their best I’ll be happy,” Wanie said.
“Today our best was what ended up winning it.”
Fighting back some emotion, Jerry Halopka, West’s
seventhyear coach, was thrilled for a state championship effort seven years in
the making. It was a special moment for Halopka to watch Wanie, one of the
leaders of the program since her freshman year.
“I hugged her and she said, ‘It’s been four years,’” Halopka
said. “I said, ‘Yeah. It’s been four years. This is great to have that finally.
You’re leaving with a state championship.’” Wanie was also fourth in the 800 on
Saturday and was on Friday’s third-place 3,200 relay team, which posted the
11thfastest time in WIAA history.
As a program, West has waited seven years.
“It’s through the roof,” West’s Celina Wanta said of her
emotions after receiving her gold medal. “I’m so happy. We told each other
whatever happens happens. We were going to be happy for each other. But this is
the icing on the cake. It’s a great way to end the season.”
The Spartans came across the finish line two seconds slower
than Friday’s preliminary time.
“The first place was what we wanted,” Wanta said. “The time
doesn’t matter.”
When Halopka took over the West girls program, he couldn’t
get any volunteers to do one of the most challenging races in track and field.
It’s tough because it requires the athlete to have the ability to sprint for
400 meters or one lap around the track. It’s not a race where one can pace him
or herself. Nor is it just a short sprint.
Because of that, getting willing competitors was a
challenge.
However, as the years passed, in came more competitors. Four
years ago, the 1,600 relay event became a top-notch event for the Spartans with
a fourth-place finish at the 2011 state meet.
In 2012, the Spartans were second in the event at state.
That’s when the Spartans knew this event was for real as far as the foundation
and the future of the Spartans’ girls program.
Last week, Halopka called the 1,600 relay event the backbone
of the program.
“It’s been an unbelievable effort by our team and our
coaching staff,” Halopka said. “For us to develop these girls over the long
haul, basically, it’s been four years to get to this point to where we finally
got it going. “To top it off with this senior class and what they’ve done
throughout their career, they’ve now written a legacy.”
Going into this year’s state meet, the Spartans had two
fourth-place finishes and one state runnerup performance, despite the frequent
turnover that often comes with high school athletics in any sport.
That didn’t faze the Spartans’ ability to consistently field
four top-notch 400-meter sprinters.
Wanie and Alexis Wolf were on the relay for four years. Wolf
was on it for parts of last season as she battled a knee injury.
What was just as sweet for the Spartans, three of the four
girls on this year’s relay were seniors and none of them had experienced state
championship glory. They got to do it in their last event of their high school
careers before each of them go their separate ways for college.
“It’s exciting,” Wanie said. “We all knew we could do it.”
Libby Brugger, the lone underclassman on the relay, got the
Spartans out with the first leg. Just like in Friday’s preliminaries, Brugger
fell behind just a bit to the field coming back around to hand off to Wolf. And
just like in the prelims, Wolf found a groove, an ambition, to get the Spartans
out front.
“They did exactly what I thought they would do,” Halopka
said.
Once in the final 100 meters, Wanta, who was waiting at the
line, moved from the third person in line to the inside lane just moments
before she got the handoff. Wanta took over the baton and held the pace until
Wanie picked up the baton for the final 400 meters. The Spartans led the rest
of the way.
“It’s great,” Halopka said. “I can’t even put it into words
right now.”
The race ended just after 10:30 p.m. That was significant
because the event was delayed for more than five hours because of inclement
weather. The weather halted the competition at 10:51 a.m. The meet didn’t
restart until after 4:30 p.m.
“Once we got on the track, everything was gone and we were
going to have the race of our lives,” Wanta said.
“It’s overwhelming,” Wolf said. “It’s so hard to comprehend
what we just did. It doesn’t feel like it’s real.
“To go out our senior year with first place, it’s what we’ve
worked for.”
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